Moonlight Path
by Demon Vampyre Goddess
Summary: The wars were over. The Gundam pilots were just becoming comfortable in the new peaceful era, when a whole other world no one knows anything about rears its head out of the darkness. They're about to find out that the boogeyman under the bed is very real.
1. Chapter 1

(sigh) Yes, I know. Why the hell is DVG starting another story when she still has yet to finish her last Gundam Wing fic, and is in the middle of another epic in another fandom?

I can't help my muses. They just attack my creative juices and force me to do their bidding. Honest.

This is going to be a completely different vision of the supernatural world. Where 'Midnight Masquerade' was traditionist vampires... we're now entering the blessedly versatile, endlessly intriguing world of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series.

Disclaimers: I do not own any rights to Gundam Wing or Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. They belong to their wonderful, god-like creators. Though I have spent a more than healthy amount of money on their books, manga, anime, and other related stuff... it doesn't give me any rights to their greatness.

Warnings: Supernatural violence, sex, both heterosexual and homosexual, vulgar language, crossover fiction, vampires, lycanthropes, and other fun preternatural beasties.

I'm not even going to try to list any permanent pairings. The main ones may stay the same... but I can't guarantee there won't be any partner swapping/bed hopping.

Enjoy.

* * *

Moonlight Path

* * *

The phone was ringing.

'Damn. Maybe if I ignore it, it'll stop.'

"Will you answer the phone?"

Duo burrowed down further under the covers. "You answer it. I answered last time."

"It's on your side of the bed." Wufei's sleepy chuckle breathed warmly against his naked back.

Grumbling, Duo scooted far enough over to reach the phone. "This better be good."

"Well, hello to you too, Duo," Sally's voice replied amusedly. "I'm sorry to disturb your much needed beauty sleep, but it's rather urgent."

He chose to ignore the joke. See? Not childish all the time. "What's wrong?"

"There's been a report of some unusually violent attacks near you two. The police say they think it's animal attacks, or disguised to look like them, but the bodies mysteriously vanish before any further analysis can be made."

Duo was definitely alert now, and he could sense Wufei paying close attention behind him. "Animal? Isn't this more Trowa's area of expertise? And why are they calling Preventers in for some inner-city problem?"

Sally sighed heavily. That wasn't a good sign. "They aren't equipped enough for this kind of situation. The reported incident near you is only one of several disturbing accounts that have been cropping up all over, on Earth and in the colonies. The number of victims isn't significant, but the number of similarities and the wide range of locations are. We need to find out what's going on, now, before it turns into something worse. Trowa and Quatre are on vacation, we can't reach them. You know how they like their privacy. Relena is at a conference in one of the reported areas, so you know where Heero is."

"I got it. Send us the specifics and Wufei and I will go check things out," Duo said, sitting up and stretching. "We'll let you know what we find out as soon as we can."

"Thanks, Duo."

He hung up after saying goodbye.

"What's going on?" Wufei was already up and pulling on some clothes.

"Knowing our luck, it's some sort of weird, twisted vigilante group trying to make a name for themselves." Duo frowned. "But I'm not sure. Sally said it's some bizarre, vicious animal attacks happening all over the Earth Sphere. Whatever it is, we gotta fix it before it goes public."

"Naturally," Wufei agreed, walking around to the other side of the bed to face his violet-eyed partner. "I'll skim through the reports while you get dressed."

Duo smiled and stood, planting a kiss on him before Wufei went out of their bedroom. His well-practiced hands smoothed tangles out of his thigh length, chestnut hair, twisting it into its customary braid. He hadn't planned on becoming a Preventer after the wars like the other Gundam pilots had. He had wanted to return to his quiet salvaging life. But Wufei had called him in for his expertise on some matters during the dismantling of Mariemaia's remaining mobile suits and he never looked back. Maybe it had been his friendship with the others was stronger then his want to return to a quiet life. They had fought so hard for this peace that they were all willing to sacrifice the rest of their lives protecting it.

Or maybe it was how good Wufei looked in uniform. (Just kidding.)

They had become partners after Wufei had called him in to help. Duo didn't remember exactly when they crossed the line from work partners to something more, it just happened. One minute they were working together, then suddenly they were living together, sleeping together, and telling each other 'I love you' and meaning it. It was as if it were the most natural thing in the world, that it was meant to happen, because it was just that comfortable and normal. Which, given the lives they had led, said a lot.

Duo came out into the living room a few minutes later, greeted with the smell of fresh coffee. Wufei sat at the computer, eyes darting over the screen as he sipped out of his mug. Another sat on the desk next to the keyboard, already sugared and creamed and waiting for its sweet toothed owner.

"I love how you can read my mind," Duo grinned, leaning his butt up against the desk and picking up the cup.

Wufei's gaze slid from the computer to Duo, a smile spreading across his face. "You're welcome." Then it was back to business. "I've read a few different reports; it's hard to discern any sort of common pattern. There's no pathology here."

Duo took a huge gulp of his sugared caffeine like it was his calming breath of air. "But there's still some sort of connection."

"Yes. All the wounds of the victims are varying types of bite and claw marks. Some are neat, they don't look like they've been attacked at all, except for two puncture wounds over the jugular and they were completely drained of blood. Where it went, your guess is as good as mine. Other have had their throats ripped out completely...missing body parts...gnawed on body parts..."

"Like they were eaten alive?" Duo suddenly looked green around the edges. "That's just fucking gross. Who dropped us into the middle of a B-level horror flick?"

Despite the severity of the situation, Wufei couldn't stop himself from laughing. He would never understand Duo's love for ancient American fright films, and him trying to rationalize the problem by comparing it to one of his old movies was funny. Who said he didn't have a sense of humor?

"This isn't your Dracula or Wolfman or zombie movies, it's just another one of our many deranged vigilante groups trying to make a name for themselves to disrupt the peace," Wufei said, still chuckling.

"Do you really think so?" Duo asked seriously.

"There are just too many of these similar attacks for it to be random," he nodded slowly. "Claws can be reproduced with the right kind of specialized knife and there are many ways to remake these different bite types."

"I wish we would get something a little more challenging then these little vigilante groups every once and a while," Duo complained, pretending to sound bored. Wufei gave him a dirty look and Duo put his hands up defensively. "I was just kidding, honest. So where in town are we going to check out?"

Click. Click.

"Downtown. Most of these incidents have occurred in the empty seaport warehouses and the neighboring red-light district," Wufei had the decency to blush slightly, which Duo did not.

He snickered. "So we're gonna spend the rest of today and tonight wandering around a bunch of seedy strip clubs, prostitutes, and abandoned warehouses? Sounds like a good night to me," Duo remarked amusedly.

"Not all the warehouses are abandoned, just the ones that were used during the war for military purposes. Their military equipment is almost completely dismantled, so it won't be long before they're reopened," Wufei said needlessly, purposefully ignoring the thought of wandering around the red-light area.

"I'll break you of that modest streak yet," Duo smirked mischievously, finishing his coffee. He looked at the list of warehouses listed as being around the crime scenes. "Definitely the empty lots right now. Great. No filling out that stupid breaking and entering paperwork after we're done tonight."

One of the few technicalities of being an upstanding government official. Though really it was a bonus, because of their rank in the Preventers, they were able to bust in and check any place they wanted to without a warrant as long as they had some sort of concrete suspicion. Une highly recommended a warrant first, but if you didn't it, there was a form to fill out while writing the report afterward that will save the department from getting sued.

"Not like you couldn't break in and leave without anyone knowing it at all." It was Wufei's turn to smirk.

"Yeah, but Une hates when I do that," Duo replied, put out. "She thinks I'm undermining her neat, orderly world of legality and stupid paperwork."

"It's not that, and you know it," Wufei said reasonably, exiting out of the report Sally sent them and moving away from the computer. "We can still be the bad guys. One wrong move and we are turned into the terrorists we fight in the eyes of the people we are fighting to protect."

As he spoke, Wufei walked over to the coat closet by the front door and opened it. A small stock of weapons of several different types and sizes were stored in neat shelves. Duo sighed. Wufei was right, he usually always was. Even as defenders of the peace that they helped build, they all tread that fine line between heros and monsters to the public.

Duo joined Wufei in the closet. "We'll, let's lock and load. The quicker we clean this mess up, the quicker we get to come back home and go back to bed."

* * *

"Let's start on neutral ground, that's where three of the five attacks were."

Wufei nodded, putting his radio earpiece in place as they slid out of the car. Duo took in the surroundings as they walked casually down the sidewalk.

Thankfully, it was Friday, so the area was more crowded than usual with people going to the clubs, bars, and other more questionable holes-in-the-wall. Nobody would pay attention; they were too focused on their own destinations and whoever was going with them. Duo glanced at himself and Wufei. They were inconspicuous, Duo wearing black pants and a slightly loose black shirt, topped off with black leather boots and jacket. Wufei was wearing dark blue jeans and a just as dark blue shirt under a dark windbreaker with running shoes. He had lost one too many pairs of his usual black slip on shoes during the first war, since then Wufei had invested in several pairs of tennis shoes and solid boots. Their jackets neatly concealed their guns from view, nothing but two guys out for a night on the town, just like everyone else.

No one even blinked as they abruptly turned off the main road onto the wide road that separated the red-light district from the warehouses. Once safely ensconced in shadowy darkness, Duo and Wufei both drew out their guns. Years of these kind of operations make a person cautious, almost paranoid. They were no exception, though they definitely leaned more towards the paranoid side than cautious. Rather be safe than sorry.

The two peeled away from the cover of darkness as they approached the entrance of the closest warehouse.

"Number A-01. This is where the majority of the attacks occurred, right? One in the back, one on each side, in between the other buildings," Duo breathed into his earpiece microphone.

"Yes," Wufei replied, speaking in the same breathy light tone. "Search around, then we'll go in the back way."

With a glance and a nod to each other, they separated. Duo headed down the left side while Wufei took the right. Duo absorbed everything as he crept down the side of the building. The warehouse under scrutiny had been the first to be bought up for 'renovations', as everyone was now calling the stripping of war production factories. According to the report, this factory had been used for repairs during the wars, now it belonged to an anonymous private investor that planned on building a club inside and extend the overcrowded red-light district. At the moment, the private party was still waiting for the final inspection from the Preventers to make sure all wartime machinery had been removed. Then they could do whatever the hell they wanted to the place. Whoever this private owner was, they weren't going to be happy if they found out about these murders surrounding their property. Duo chuckled as the mental image of a big, fat, filthy rich entrepreneur throwing a temper tantrum filled his mind.

"What's so funny?"

Duo shook his head, then realized Wufei obviously wasn't going to be able to see it on the other side of the warehouse. "Nothing. I'll tell you-"

He cut off suddenly. The hairs on the back of his neck were raising, his skin crawling in a way that only meant something was very, very wrong.

"Duo?" Wufei's voice managed to sound concerned, even through their flimsy earpieces.

"Do you have the heebie jeebies bothering you as much as they are me right now?"

There was a brief second's hesitation and then Wufei replied, "Yes."

Duo instantly slammed his back up against the wall, giving him full views of all directions without leaving himself open. Left, right, straight across, up, then the whole process over again. Nothing.

"Shit. We really must be getting more paranoid as we age," Duo sighed, pushing away from the wall but not able to push away his 'heebie jeebie' feeling. "I could have sworn someone was there."

"Oh, but I am."

Duo whirled around, gun automatically sighted on the man behind him before he even looked. The skin crawling sensation from before was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. The guy had to have been six foot tall or more, built like a basketball player, slim but all toned muscle and very solid. This made him at least twice the size of Duo, if not three times, despite the lean physique. No, Duo had not grown much since the wars ended, and he didn't think he was ever going to. At least he had made it to five foot eight. Oh well, back to the problem at hand.

The man had long silky blonde hair that hit him mid-back, which wasn't very hard to judge because he was shirtless. All he was wearing were a pair of skin tight jeans, no shoes. Duo couldn't make out eye color or facial features in the shadows.

"Duo? Duo, what's going on?"

His reply choked in his throat as the blonde man cocked his head to the side slightly, as if he were listening to something. "Duo, that is a very interesting name."

"How in the fuck did you hear that? Or, better yet, just who in the fuck are you?" Not very eloquent, or professional, but hey, no one has never, ever snuck up on him like this before. Duo was always the one doing the sneaking. And somehow this guy was able to hear the radio in his ear. Impossible. So he was pissed, and justifiably so.

The man merely smiled calmly. "I am your new best friend."

Before Duo could respond with another vulgar phrase, he was blasted with the feeling of hot air, his skin crawling like it was made up of a billion ants underneath the electric current of wind. Time clicked into slow motion, Duo's finger was frozen over the trigger as the blonde man let out a feral, cat-like snarl and launched himself at him.

Lightning-quick, Duo found himself flat on his back with blood roaring through his head in panic, the man on top of him pinning him down as if he weighed nothing. The blonde's body sang with tension, then Duo dimly realized that there were things moving under his flesh that just wasn't normal.

"My masters will love a pretty one like you."

That was it. His gun was pressed against the man's stomach. Slowly, terribly too slowly, he pulled the trigger, his ears filling with the sound of gunshots, Wufei's frantic calls, inhuman roaring, and his own voice screaming, "Jesus fucking Christ!"

Flesh melted away into black fur, human face stretching, contorting into feline. An explosion of gunfire sounded, too far away, as scalding clear liquid and blood soaked through Duo's clothes. But Duo had forgotten all about his own gun again, all he could do was stare into the eyes of the panther on top of him.

More gunshots, much closer this time. The panther hissed, tearing razor sharp claws into Duo's shoulders and slashing them down his chest and stomach, not enough to damage anything vital, but enough to cause a lot of pain. The clear liquid and blood from the panther's wounds mixed in with the bleeding claw gashes.

As quick as it appeared, the man-turned-cat vanished, and the last thing Duo saw before blacking out was Wufei's anguished face hovering over his.

* * *

Yes, I seem to have this perverse need to torture and abuse poor Duo. But don't worry, all the boys will be getting a taste of it this time. Hehe.

Reviews are very much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

The jungle. Everything smelled fresh, unpolluted. Fresh earth, trees, his body moving with liquid grace through the wild. Nothing had ever made him feel so at home before, so much freedom. The smells of the raw rain forest intermingled with a familiar musk. Feline. Predator.

Duo was rudely brought back to consciousness, the chartreuse eyes of a panther lingering like a bad nightmare in the back of his mind. He was in a stark, sterile hospital room. Duo looked around, no one was there, just him and the beeping machines next to him by the bed. He scrunched his nose, the antiseptic smell of hospitals had never bothered him before, but it was like the powerful, enduring scent of rain forest from his dream made it so much harsher than usual.

It took him a moment to remember why has in there. Of course, once he thought about it, a dull ache spread from his shoulders to his waist. Duo lifted the bed sheets and saw his torso completely encased in thick white bandages mottled with dark bloodstains. He was confused. It looked a lot worse than it felt.

Duo pushed himself up into a sitting position as the sound of approaching footsteps filled the room. The door opened and Sally entered, followed by Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa. Sally froze in the doorway, staring at Duo in utter shock.

"What are you doing sitting up?! You're going to pop all your stitches!"

"I thought you said he'd be out of it for a couple of days?" Trowa asked amusedly, though he looked immensely relieved.

Sally glanced at her medical clipboard. "I know all your tolerances to sedatives and painkillers, why do you think I'm the one that patches you guys up?" she replied, doubt creeping into her voice.

Wufei and Quatre ignored Sally and Trowa's conversation, making a beeline for the bed. Wufei clutched one of Duo's hands in an iron tight grip, his face worn and pale from worry. Quatre's cerulean eyes were bright with pain, but it lessened as Duo fidgeted about trying to get comfortable. "How are you feeling?"

Duo turned his gaze over to Wufei and he smiled reassuringly. "I'm feeling fine, promise," he said, using his free hand to rub his chest. "These bandages are itchy. My skin is itchy. I really want to take this shit off."

Sally and Trowa joined them.

"Well, that was why I came in here with the crew. I thought I was going to need them to hold onto you while I changed them," she said, shaking her head. "Can you tell us what happened? Do you think it's connected with all the other attacks?"

Wufei's grip tightened almost painfully over his hand. Duo took a minute to try to piece his disjointed memories together. "I can say that it is definitely connected, but I don't know how to explain without sounding completely insane," Duo sighed, scratching absently at the bandages again.

"Try us," Trowa remarked, curiosity filling his expression.

"Wufei and I were checking the perimeter when I got the feeling someone was watching me. I put my back to the wall and scanned the area like three times and couldn't see a goddamn thing," he frowned, still unhappy with the fact that someone snuck up on him. "So, I step away from the wall, talking to 'Fei and thinking everything's clear, then this guy just appears out of thin air. I don't know where the fuck he came from. I tried to talk to the guy, then he rushed me..."

Duo trailed off, paling visibly as he pictured the man suddenly on top of him, turning the black leopard. Quatre's concerned voice cut through the image. "What's wrong?"

"I've never seen someone move so fast. It wasn't even a blink and then we were on the ground," Duo said, shock tingling through his limbs.

"I didn't see a man, I saw a panther," Wufei replied.

"The man turned into the panther." Silence. No one spoke, but Duo knew that no one believed him.

"I'm serious! The guy fucking changed! It was like he shed his skin and there was a panther underneath," he insisted vehemently.

"Catherine likes to rescue exotic animals people have trained and abused into pets," Trowa said calmly, as if it explained everything. "Maybe you were just caught so off guard that you didn't notice the guy call his pet. It would make sense-"

"NO!" Duo yelled, furious. "I swear he did it! I could feel this bones shifting under his skin! I saw it vanish under fur!"

Sally cleared her throat uneasily. "Let's get these bandages off."

"You believe me, don't you, 'Fei?" Duo asked, turning his gaze to Wufei. "You said yourself all you saw was the cat. If he didn't change into it, where in the fuck did he go?"

Wufei looked like he was swallowing something bitter filled with broken glass. "Yes, all I saw was the panther."

"I hear a 'but'," Duo said, his temper flaring even worse.

"By the time I got around the building to you, the man would have had ample time to run and conceal himself view," he answered reluctantly.

"I am not fucking crazy. I know what I saw."

"No one is saying your crazy, Duo," Quatre said soothingly.

"No, but you're thinking it."

"Lean forward so I can cut the tape on your back," Sally interrupted, attempting to resume normalcy.

Duo was fuming as Sally reached behind him and worked on the bandages. With one final snip, they fell off into his lap, cool air hitting his warm, itchy torso and making him sigh with relief.

"Holy shit."

Duo forgot his anger when Sally swore. "What?"

All the stitches in his injuries had snapped, but they were designed to do that when the wounds were healed enough to no need them. Another great invention of war, if you were stitched up and out in the battlefield, you didn't have time to find a doctor to remove them, so they became chemically aware of your body. Once the blood stopped producing the chemicals that caused clotting to close the wounds and let them heal, it was the cue of the stitches to break so you could pull them out yourself without doing harm. Duo had started pulling out the popped stitching when he realized everyone was staring at him in complete astonishment.

"What?" he repeated irritably.

"Duo, those wounds look a week old," Sally said incredulously.

He didn't like the sound of her tone. "Yeah...and?"

"I brought you in less than twenty four hours ago," Wufei responded carefully.

"I don't understand it, those cuts were at least two inches deep when I stitched you up," Sally shook her head again, reading her medical chart as if the answers were there.

"Good, then I can go home, right?"

"I guess so, but I'm not sure," Sally hesitated. "You're still feverish, the temperature monitor says you're at 101. But you blood work doesn't show any kinds of infection, and we gave you a precautionary rabies shot when Wufei said you were attacked by an animal."

"Then I can go home," Duo replied stubbornly.

Sally sighed. "Fine, you can go. But the minute something feels off, come back in."

"Sure, whatever you say, doc." Duo then dutifully ignored everyone by going back to removing his stitches. The injuries were nothing but slightly scabbed, shiny pink new scars dribbling down his torso. It should have bothered him that he had healed so fast, but at the moment, he was too pissed off at everyone for not believing him.

An uncomfortable silence followed as Sally left the room to officially check Duo out. Once the door shut behind her, Quatre started chafing his arms as if he were cold.

"Something feels different."

Trowa looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"I feel like there's energy dancing on my skin," Quatre stopped rubbing his arms. "It's been doing that since we came in here."

"Yes, now that you mention it, so do I," Wufei frowned deeply as Trowa also nodded in agreement. "It's almost like that 'heebie jeebie' sensation we felt before you were attacked, right, Duo?"  
"I dunno what you're talking about. I don't feel a damn thing," Duo replied shortly, but he was perplexed.

Wufei and Trowa checked the room and the hallway as Quatre claimed Wufei's chair by the bed. He cerulean gaze was intent, as if he were trying to see inside the walls with X-ray vision. Another stifling silence filled the room, they couldn't find the cause of the discomfort, which only made it worse. Duo had finished peeling away all the stitching by the time Sally returned to say he could leave.

They were leaving the hospital when Duo felt it like a slap in the face. Angry or not, he couldn't ignore the others know.

"Guys, I think we're being followed," he said quietly, fighting the urge to look around.

"Yeah." Wufei unlocked the car and they climbed in, apparently he had picked up Quatre and Trowa from the space port while Duo was unconscious. They used the opportunity to casually glance around the parking lot. It looked harmless, whoever it was, was very well hidden.

The drive to the apartment seemed to take ten times longer than it normally did. They all tried watching the roads, but in the city traffic, it was close to impossible to tell if someone was tailing them. They searched the apartment thoroughly when they got there. Nothing.

"Fuck, this is getting old, very fast," Duo swore, trying to squelch the feeling. "I'm going to go take a shower."

He knew without seeing that Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre shared a look behind his back. Now that the immediate threat had been momentarily neutralized, all their thoughts went back to wondering about Duo's state of mind and the unnerving, seemingly miraculous healing of his claw marks. This was understandable, because his thoughts went back to that too. But he knew what he saw and he wasn't crazy, so he dwelled on the fading scars on his body as he climbed into the steaming hot shower.

Duo scrubbed himself several times until he felt like he had gotten all the dried clear goop and blood off. He started massaging generous amounts of shampoo through his hair as he frowned down the length of his torso. The mild scabbing was now gone, leaving only the shiny new pink look of fresh scars. They looked more like two or three weeks old, though not even an hour before, Sally had said only one week. As much as he appreciated skipping a long, irritating healing process, Duo was bothered. Not even Heero could have done this, and he had seen him do a lot of crazy shit. He remembered when they first met, when he had busted Heero out of the Alliance hospital and the idiot had tried to kill himself, but ended up breaking his leg. Heero had set it himself, using a wrench as a splint so the injury wouldn't get in the way as he continued his mission. Heero had admitted years later that he should have been out of commission for at least three weeks, and it had taken six for it to heal. That he didn't know how many bones in his body had healed improperly because of his negligence. But at the time, the mission was more important, so he ignored it, just like he had been trained to do.

Duo didn't have any pain to ignore, he had just woken up and was fine. More than fine. In fact, the shiny pink newness of the scar already seemed to be fading away. It was like trying to watch a flower bloom, it didn't move as you stared, but the second you blink or glance away than back at it, it had moved. Something was definitely wrong here.

The fuzzy, faint creepy sensation Duo had managed to efficiently smother roared up over his skin as if he'd stuck his finger in an electrical socket. He tensed, straining to hear anything over the steady stream of water. Before he had a chance to turn off the shower, the sound of the door being kicked in exploded through the bathroom.

"Duo?" It was Wufei.

Duo pushed open the shower door and stuck his head out. "You scared the living shit out of me, 'Fei. I thought our phantom stalker was busting in here," he laughed, but the expression on Wufei's face made him stop. "What is it?"

Wufei motioned towards the other side of the room, Duo's gaze following the line of sight. Their bathroom was one of those nicer style master bathrooms, the shower and bathtub separate so that the tub could be bigger for luxuriating like you're supposed to in a bath, and with room for more than one to luxuriate. There was a window above the bathtub with curtain more for privacy than for decoration. The curtains had been pulled back to reveal the open window, both the window and the curtains had been closed before Duo had got in the shower.

But it wasn't the fact that someone had snuck up on him, not once, but twice, within two days that made Duo shudder. It wasn't cold air, he had been in the shower long enough to turn the bathroom into a mini sauna. It was the pony-sized blank panther curled up in the bathtub like it was its bed, a big crimson red ribbon tied artfully around its throat. It took several seconds for Duo's brain to comprehend that a card was attached to the ribbon, like you would do to a bouquet of flowers to be delivered.

"That is a very big cat," Trowa remarked softly. He rarely shows any serious extreme facial expressions or vocal tones, so for him to come in and practically gawk in astonishment was a feat. They all stood rooted to the spot like rabbits caught in the sight of a hungry wolf, not wanting to even breathe too loudly.

A deep, reverberating sound shattered the heavy silence, startling them out of their shock. Duo jumped so badly that he was forced to stumble naked out of the shower or risk busting his bare ass on the tile floor.

"Is that what I think it is?" Wufei asked, his voice as soft as Trowa's had been, as if he was still waiting for the panther to fly out of the bathtub and eat them all.

"It's purring." Yes, Trowa was definitely flabbergasted.

"I think it likes all the rapt attention," Quatre said, looking like he was about to purr in contentment himself as he channeled the big cat's emotions.

"You're the animal pro, Unibang. Go pet and distract it while we run out screaming like little girls," Duo said warily. At Wufei and Quatre's dirty looks, he shrugged, "Fine, I'll run out alone screaming like a little girl. Have fun."

The panther turned its full gaze on Duo and he suddenly had the irresistible urge to go over and climb into the bathtub with it. 'Come, cuddle with me like a teddy bear, you know you want to,' was what the feline gaze implied.

Duo didn't even have a chance to wonder how an animal could convey such a thing, he was walking towards the other side of the room like it was perfectly natural to cuddle naked with a giant cat in a bathtub.

That thought did stop him dead in his tracks, and was aware of a tight grip on his arms holding him back a foot away. But he was close enough now to read the elegant script on the card.

'To Duo.'

"Let me go."

Wufei gave him a look that clearly said he thought Duo had lost his mind, but slowly did what he was asked. Duo cautiously knelt down close enough to pull the ribbon that released the card. The panther watched him, still purring quietly, as he slid the card out of the envelope with his name on it.

'The full moon is soon. We can't wait to see you again. Your New Best Friend.'

Duo read it aloud, a fine tremble beginning to creep through his whole body. The asshole was trying to fuck with him, as if attacking him wasn't enough. What the hell is the message supposed to mean anyway?

Duo let out an undignified shriek when a long, rough tongue licked the side of his face, and he toppled over on his ass to the floor. The panther was already gone through the open window when someone's shot splintered the tile on the wall a second too late. Wufei and Trowa both ran past, staring out of the window.

"Where in the hell did it go?" Wufei swore.

"It licked me," Duo muttered, trying to swallow his heart back down into his chest. "It fucking licked me."

"I think it was actually meant to be a soothing gesture," Quatre said, coming to kneel beside Duo.

"Oh, is that what your empathetic little space heart told you?" he asked sarcastically. Anger was much better than fear. Yeah, anger. Definitely anger.

"Actually, it is," Trowa answered, stepping out of the tub as Wufei shut the window and curtains. "For cats, it's like a hug for comfort, or a sign of trust that they're willing to let the other get close enough to do that and not rip its throat out. I remember the cats at the circus being particularly touchy and clingy to me when I was suffering from the amnesia and the pain of not being able to remember anything."

"You could cover yourself in raw steaks and none of the animals at the circus would lay a claw on you," Duo replied, confusion replacing the anger. "You're just one of those animal people, like Tarzan or something. It's not that I don't like them, just I'm not THAT animal friendly like you are."

"Who cares about the intricacies of animal psychology," Wufei cut in sharply. "What I want to know is what this note means, why they're targeting Duo, who they are, whatever the hell is going on here."

"I'm sorry, Wufei, you're right," Quatre apologized, standing up. Wufei nodded, grabbing Duo's towel from the towel rack.

Duo scrubbed the side of his face with the palm of his hand, not able to get rid of the feeling of the panther's tongue. "We should research whoever the private investor is and exactly what kind of club they're building," he said tiredly, gratefully taking his towel from Wufei's hand and wrapping is around his waist as he got to his feet.

"Do you think they could be involved inthis?" Trowa asked.

"It doesn't hurt to check it out just to be safe," Quatre replied with a sigh. "Besides, the note said 'we can't wait to see you again', implying that we already know how to find them, which leads to the scene of Duo's attack at the warehouse."

"Heero should be coming in from the colonies tonight, he said he would be here first thing in the morning," Wufei said.

"Jesus, did you call in the whole cavalry just for me?" Duo remarked incredulously.

"Yes, I did." Wufei didn't even sound embarrassed, it made Duo feel all warm and fuzzy. "I want this guy caught for what he did. When Heero comes in, we'll let him hack the system for this private investor. He's always been better at hacking then the rest of us."

"What we will do until Heero arrives?"

"Quatre and I will read through the reports Sally sent you so that we're up to date on the situation," Trowa replied, heading for the door.

"You and I still need to file our own report with Lady Une, then we can start preparing for whatever plan we come up with," Wufei added as Trowa and Quatre walked out of the room.

"All right, lemme go get some clothes on and we can call up to HQ and talk to her."

Duo followed Wufei out, heading to their bedroom while Wufei joined Trowa and Quatre. The bad guys had made a very, very big mistake, and now they were about to find out just how big of a mistake it was to piss off the Gundam pilots.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't know just how bad the bad guys really were.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the lovely reviews!

This chapter is much longer than the first two...and we get to meet our lovely ABVH characters!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3

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It had taken them a long time to read through the entire report, but Qautre and Trowa had come to the same conclusion as Wufei had. Now they realized some of the animal attacks had truly been animal after what had happened to Duo, who had decided not to repeat that he thought the animals –were- the people, not trained pets as the others wanted to believe. The supposed bloodless deaths were probably just to throw the authorities off their trail.

Duo was dutifully ignoring everyone again as they discussed if they could track the murders through illegal animal trade routes, or missing circus or zoo animals. He had pulled out all the weapons from his and Wufei's closet cache and was cleaning them with exceptional care.

That was how Heero found them when he arrived at the crack of dawn, as promised, with Duo ignoring the others while they were debating East Asian laws on animal exports. His attention went from the first immediate threat, an angry trained soldier with equally dangerous weapons, to the rest, who were at least unarmed from what his professional view could assess. Old habits die hard.

"You seem all right for someone who was bleeding to death thirty-six hours ago," he remarked, eyeing Duo strangely. "I had Sally send me everything to analyze during the flight. Supposedly, I should be feeling jealous about your suddenly miraculous healing rate."

Duo laughed, though it wasn't a particularly friendly one, as he lifted his shirt to reveal old looking scars. "Yeah, this, and be concerned about my sanity."

"If you believe you saw the perpetrator change shape, then that's what happened," Heero replied seriously. "I don't doubt what you saw. I trust your ability to assess a situation properly under duress."

Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei had the decency to look embarrassed. When pointed out like that, it did seem pretty rotten of them to dismiss Duo's beliefs like they had. Duo felt a lot better.

"Well, whatever happened, at least we'll be fully arms," Duo said, putting down the gun he had been cleaning.

"Somehow, I don't think being fully armed is going to help," Trowa said, still slightly chagrined. "The tone of the message implies that you will go to them willingly, like an obedient dog." He handed Heero the card that had been sitting on the table amidst other notes and polished weapons.

"When is the full moon?" Heero asked, frowning at the card.

Wufei got up and went into the kitchen, returning with a calendar. "A week from now, why?"

"We have to know our time table. So one week to neutralize the situation," he replied. Leave it to Heero to act like they were discussing the time limit of a bomb detonation. "One week before Duo will go find them like some sort of odedient dog, to use Trowa's expression."

"It's more like obedient cat," Duo said thoughtfully. "Since everything they've sent our way has been big black cats. And I don't think we'll be searching too hard."

Heero nodded. "I agree that we need to look into the background of the private investor. In fact, when reading over the other reports, it was a common trend that the scenes of the attacks were all in the same general vicinity of a certain building, or area." He went to the computer and started typing away furiously without another word.

Duo was pissed again, though for different reasons. 'Who in the fuck do these assholes think they are?' he thought, but at the same time, it started to scare him. By now, everyone in the Earth Sphere knew who and what they were, what they were capable of. For someone to make threats like this, they were either incredibly unstable mentally, or they knew they had the power to back the threats. Or both, which was never a good thing. What did they want with just him? Unless they needed someone stealthy enough to steal something important, he was useless without a mobile suit to pilot.

Strip them of their Gundam pilot status and see what was left. Quatre was a rich, politically powerful heir to the Winner resource satellite corporation. As his significant other, Trowa also received some of those benefits, but for the most part, he held his own sort of power in the popularity he had with the circus and that deep affinity with the animals he worked with. Heero would always be the Perfect Soldier, and being permanently attached to Relena's shadow made most authority turn a blind eye to anything he did. Wufei came from one of the most powerful families in China, and was now their sole representative after the exiled clan had self destructed their colony to keep it from OZ control. Couple that with an intelligence and martial arts skills that would make Albert Einstein and Bruce Lee envious, and he had it made.

Duo could... steal. Survive. All he had to fall back on was a nonexistence as a street urchin and a little dumb luck. Sure, he could fix and fly just about anything, but without mobile suits in the picture, there were plenty of other mechanics and pilots that made it so he wasn't needed. All that left him as was a sneaky son of a bitch who had great survival skills. So why him?

Wufei seemed to sense Duo's abysmal train of thought and went to sit by him, wrapping his arms around Duo's shoulders. He didn't crawl up into Wufei's lap, but the line of their bodies were pressed close enough together that it probably would have been more comfortable. He was not going to act completely pathetic, he had stopped feeling sorry about himself a long time ago, but occasionally it came up and bit him in the ass, just like now. Though he did let himself wriggle in close enough to lay his cheek in the warm hollow of Wufei's shoulder, where collarbone met the curve of smooth neck. Nothing made him more content than the scent of Wufei's aftershave, a warm, spicy musk that could be potentially overwhelming if used too liberally. Duo preferred edible scents, especially vanilla, which somehow went hand-in-hand with the spicy aftershave like a dessert.

Duo nuzzled in closer to the curve of his throat, starting to inhale deeply, but then he stopped. There was the aftershave, a hint of his own vanilla, but underneath was something new. It was something sweet, like candy. His eyes followed the line up Wufei's throat until they found the almost unnoticeable pulse of his jugular vein. There. Like a big piece of candy begging to be taken in his mouth and sucked on, bit down on until the fleshy covering over it was torn away and it spilled its sweet juices. It sounded like such a good idea, and he was so, so hungry for it...

His stomach growled loudly.

Wufei laughed. "Leave it to you to be hungry at a time like this," he glanced down at Duo, then jerked back with a startled, wide-eyed stare.

"What's wrong, 'Fei?" Duo asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

He shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Your eyes looked a different color. It must have been the light or something." He shook his head again.

"I've got a name," Heero said, effectively ending their conversation. He turned in the chair enough to give the others a full view of the computer screen. No picture, just a document. Heero's expression would have been amusing if it weren't so scary. He was really angry about something.

"This is the contract they signed to purchase the warehouse. The investor's name is Jean-Claude. No last name. And that's all I can find. No location, age, picture, background, nothing." Heero's voice was flat, but the frustration was evident. "It's like he appeared out of thin air."

"That's not good," Quatre frowned, mirroring the concern that they all felt. If Heero couldn't find it, then they had a very big problem.

"And you tried every way you know to get the information?" Trowa asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Yes. I tried every hacking trick I know and then some," Heero replied with the same flat, angry tone.

"Then we don't have time to wait until the end of the full moon deadline, we must take action immediately," Quatre said firmly. "If we're going in blind, we have to go now. I'm sure you all agree with me that we don't want another victim turning up while we're sitting here twiddling our thumbs and waiting to see what Duo's note means."

The authority he spoke with would leave no one with doubts on who the leader of their group was. People commonly assumed it was Heero, so it was always amusing to see the shocked reactions when soft spoken little Quatre with into leader mode. Especially new Preventers who come on assignments and felt the need to protect Quatre because of his gentle appearance, then found out quite rudely the power underneath all that sweet talk and smiles.

"Would anyone be out in that... area on a Sunday night?" Wufei asked.

Duo gave another hollow, bitter sort of laugh that had nothing to do with humor. "You wouldn't believe what a lot of people do on Sundays. I wouldn't be surprised if we found the place just as packed as it was on Friday."

"Besides, even if it weren't, wouldn't –you- like having the element of surprise over them?" Trowa remarked, as if it explained everything.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'm letting my personal discomforts distract me," Wufei sighed.

"You don't seem to mind the stripping if I'm the one doing it," Duo teased, giving him a remarkably cat-like purr. Wufei turned a delicate shade of red and mumbled something incomprehensible.

Quatre stared at Duo with an odd expression, but it cleared before anyone noticed and he was back to business again.

"So tonight it is, then."

* * *

With the five of them together, things couldn't have been better. One person covered every side of the warehouse, with Trowa taking the precarious rooftop. The sensation Duo so aptly called the 'heebie jeebies' stole over them all as soon as they had turned off the main road to the dark one that led to the building. Tension ran high as they covered their different positions, their guard on maximum alert.

It was almost anticlimactic when they were able to get in through their respective doors, or skylight in Trowa's case, and into the warehouse without a problem. There were no lights on, only the soft illumination of moonlight through the windows.

"Looks like they've already started renovations on the place before Une gave them clearance," Trowa said softly over the radio set. "Carpeted floors, tables, and I nearly killed myself repelling through the window. I almost landed right onto their stage lighting units."

"I've spotted a few stages, I'm at the main one in the center of the room," Heero replied.

"Here's a bar," Wufei added noncommittally.

"I'm with Heero," Quatre said, breathing a little too heavily into the earpiece. "I feel like I'm suffocating under a sea of energy."

"Duo?"

Silence.

"Duo, how's your side?" Heero asked.

Nothing.

Suddenly, a violent eruption of obscenities and gunfire answered the constricted quiet. Duo came rushing out of the darkness onto the center of the main stage, his body half turned as he shot behind him into the shadows he had just emerged from. He came to an abrupt stop to keep from toppling off the stage onto Heero and Quatre. Wufei and Trowa hurried out to join them as more than a handful of people emerged fro the spot Duo was shooting at.

Click. Duo's gun was empty.

The pilots stared in horror as the leader, a tall blonde man, laughed and looked down at the gunshot wound in his leg. It was healing before their very eyes, as if someone had hit a fast forward button.

"You came a little sooner than expected," he smirked, enjoying their dumbfounded expressions as he moved closer.

"Stay the fuck away from me!" Duo yelled, edging back until his heels were at the edge of the stage. His hands fumbled as he dropped the empty clip and stuffed a fresh one in, even though it seemed obvious that shooting him was pointless.

"Oh, come on now, is that how you're supposed to treat your friend?" The blonde stepped forward again and was met with a bullet in his stomach.

"Fuck you," Duo hissed.

He looked furious. "Fine, have it your way." He flicked his hands palm outward and long, razor sharp claws snapped out of his fingertips like switchblades. Gunshots exploded from behind Duo as the others shot at the blonde, but they were too slow. Just like before, Duo flew off the stage, tackled to the ground in a movement faster than the blink of an eye. The man was on top of him, claws poised to strike, but before he could, the front doors of the warehouse burst open with a loud bang. The air in the room was positively drowning with energy, so much so that Quatre dropped his gun and clutched his chest, collapsing to his knees next to Trowa.

"Zander, just what the fuck do you think you're doing?" A woman's voice slashed through the thick air like a knife.

The lights over the stage flickered to life, momentarily blinding everybody. Wufei glanced over at Heero. Trowa was on his knees, holding Quatre to him as the smaller pilot shivered, still clutching his chest. A glance behind him showed the five others that had been with the blonde man had thrown themselves down to the ground in a groveling, abased position. The man himself was stock still, straddling Duo on the floor with clawed hands prepared to strike, but his face was a frozen mask of fear.

They could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed the approaching woman and the entourage of men with her. Wufei's first impression was wondering why he felt so afraid of such a tiny woman. She was at most five foot three, petite looking with her pale white skin and long, curly ink black hair. But the power that emanated from her and the men with her made them seem like a giants. It was as if all she had to do was pin that dark gaze on Wufei and he would shatter into a million pieces.

He certainly did not want to be feeling whatever Quatre was, he was sure it was tenfold worse than what he was experiencing, having it all super enhanced with his empathetic abilities.

As if he had read Wufei's mind, one of the men behind her moved up and placed a pale hand on her shoulder. He was beautiful, yet completely masculine at the same time. He looked like he had just stepped out of an old oil painting with all his black velvet and lace spilling out everywhere. "_Ma petite_, I do believe you are hurting their _petit ange_," he spoke gently, his French-accentuated tone smooth as silk. Her eyes met Quatre's pained ones and her entire countenance softened visibly, the energy sucking away as if her eyes were straws drinking it all back inside. Then she went back to glaring at Zander as if she could set him on fire with her gaze alone.

"Get off him, now."

The blonde slid sideways off of Duo, holding himself down in a fashion similar to those on the stage as his claws retracted. "I apologize, Nimir-Ra." He shook perceptibly, as if he were waiting for a blow.

Duo climbed slowly to his feet, turning towards the newcomers stiffly. Something was definitely hurt pretty badly for him to move like he was. Wufei went over to him, touching his arm gingerly.

"Are you all right, Duo?"

"Eh, I've been better," he winced, massaging his back.

"You see why I had to do it?" Zander said, his tone pleading.

"We haven't been gone more than a couple of days and already you've fucked up," the woman replied harshly, turning away and coming closer to Wufei and Duo. "Who..." She stopped suddenly, staring at Duo in utter shock.

"Nathaniel?"

"What's wrong, Anita?" It was one of the other men than had come in with her. Wufei's attention was drawn to him as he walked into the stage light towards them and he understood perfectly why the woman was so stunned. Quatre let out an audible gasp behind them.

If Duo had a twin, then this Nathaniel would be him. They had to be about the same height, the same lithe, toned build, the same color of hair. Those same, startling violet eyes. The only differences were Nathaniel's braid length, his thick hair trailed down almost to the floor instead of hitting mid-thigh like Duo's, and he was dressed in painted on black leather pants with a lavender silk shirt compared to Duo's plain black street clothes. Even their facial features were so similar that Wufei had to look in his arms to make sure he was still holding his partner.

Duo and Nathaniel stared at each other, confusion evident.

"You said you needed something to help persuade them, so I did it, I thought you wouldn't mind," Zander started babbling again, piercing the stifling silence.

The expression of dawning horror on Anita and Nathaniel's faces made Wufei more afraid than the woman's ire had moments before. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Which one of you is Jean-Claude?" Heero barked irritably, glaring at the other men. Oh yeah, he was not a happy camper. He pointed his gun at Zander. "This man is wanted for the deaths of five people in this city, along with the attempted murder of a high priority Preventers agent. Duo, this is the man who attacked you, right?"

"Yeah," Duo nodded vaguely, too caught up in staring at his doppelganger to pay much attention.

"And the abuse of exotic animals," Trowa supplemented. "Most specifically a large black panther."

The French man who had spoken before gave a vexing shrug that meant everything and nothing at the same time. "I am afraid there was been a very big misunderstanding," he said, his voice flowing like fur over the Gundam pilots. "I am Jean-Claude, and there has been no murder here. In fact, I believe the victims you are searching for sit there on the stage."

Heero scowled. "Mind games won't work with us."

"No, he's telling the truth, I brought them here," Zander said, still sounding panicky.

"And as for claim of abusing exotic animals, I feel that, too, is another very unjust accusation. _Ma petite_?"

Anita held her hand out towards Zander, who was shaking his head jerkily, then let out a loud scream. He writhed on the ground with the sounds of ripping flesh and popping bones, his body vanishing into the form of a giant black panther before he finally stopped thrashing. It cowered like a scolded kitten at Anita's feet.

Duo felt a vicious pain flare through his body, bringing a ragged gasp out of his throat and him onto his knees, gripping his arms tightly around himself. Suddenly, all of his senses were enhanced a million times over. He could see the other men hanging back in the shadows crystal clear. One was a tall, muscled man with tan skin and honey brown, curly hair. Next to him was an angel, or what looked like an angel, radiant with pale alabaster skin and long golden hair that fell over one side of his perfectly sculpted face. Beside him was another tall, built man with flowing blood red hair and bright green eyes that glittered in the darkness like living emeralds. Duo could smell everything, perfumes, colognes, what shampoo and soap they used, stale sex and blood, animals...wolf and leopard. Taste fear like candy on his tongue... It reminded him of Wufei's pulse... His skin was too tight, bone structure not right, he needed to shed his human shell and feed on the fear from Wufei and the other pilots.

"Shit! Nathaniel, quick, you need to take his beast."

Warm, almost hot lips pressed against Duo's, the taste of lipstick overwhelming the taste of fear. Some animal instinct that had been fueling his sensory nerves recognized her taste, her power, and gave itself over like a vassal to a queen's command. It poured out of Duo's mouth and into the one kissing him, and he gradually came back to his own senses.

He blinked slowly, staring at Anita's face so close to his, her red lipstick smeared slightly. She had one hand cupping the side of his face tenderly, the other holding the furry, clawed hand of Nathaniel. It took a second for it click that it was him under all the fur and cat-like changes, but he still looked partially human. It took even longer for Duo to realize that he was trembling violently and the only thing keeping him on his knees was Anita's gentle grip on his jaw.

"I believe we have some explaining to do," Jean-Claude sighed.

"Oh, I think there's a hell of a lot more than 'some' explaining," Wufei retorted angrily, using every ounce of will power he possessed to take his gaze off of Duo and Anita to glare balefully at Jean-Claude.

The three men in the shadows came forward to join the show as the tan, honey haired one spoke. "Anita took... Duo's beast and gave it to Nathaniel so he wouldn't change," he said calmly. His deep, expressive brown gaze took in all the pilots.

"So you're implying that if she hadn't done what she did, Duo would look like that?" Quatre asked, indicating Nathaniel. His voice was pained, but otherwise, he had managed to pull his empathetic reins back into his control.

"No... Well, maybe. It depends on his power level," he shrugged.

"I think he would," Nathaniel replied, his voice a purr coming out of his kitty-cat mouth. At Quatre's confused expression, he elaborated, "What I received was only a portion of power, just enough to stop the change. But that small piece I got was powerful enough to make the assumption."

"Jesus, you're going to be a hellcat at full moon," Anita remarked, standing up. "He's going to need to stay with us until the full moon's passed."

"Like hell he is," Wufei fired up instantly, helping his lover to his feet.

"You don't understand what's going to happen," Anita replied, her expression sympathetic.

"We should listen to what they have to say, 'Fei," Duo said quietly, shivering again. "Please."

Wufei's outrage wilted in a heartbeat as he wrapped Duo's shaking body in his arms like they were a warm blanket to keep out the cold. It was a testament of their loyalty to each other that Heero and Trowa put away their guns without a word, trusting Duo and Quatre's judgment on the situation.

"If you would like, we have much more accommodating rooms belong," Jean-Claude said, his voice doing that same trick of gliding against their skin like silk, oozing into intimate places inside them where no one could possibly touch and promising things even more intimate. "We can relax and you can have any question of yours answered to the best of our abilities."

"That sounds a hell of a lot like 'we'll tell you what we think you need to know,'" Duo remarked, beginning to regain his composure.

"No, we won't withhold information," Anita replied forcibly, her irritation turned in Jean-Claude's direction. "You've already suffered enough metaphysical bullshit without knowing what's going on. What Jean-Claude meant is that there are some things even we still don't know the answer to, so then we can't tell you if we don't know."

Quatre shared glances with the others before nodding in agreement. They headed off around the main stage back towards the other end of the warehouse where Duo had so rudely encountered Zander. Even though they promised only to give information, it didn't stop Duo from thinking.

'Out of the pan and into the fire...'

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

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The pilots stopped at the doorway to the lower level. The floor gave way to a large, strangely hewn stone stairway that looked like it had been made for bigger and much less human legs. Everyone else just continued on like it was normal, so after their moment of hesitation, the pilots followed.

Their feeling of discontent deepened the further down they went. There were just too many sharp turns that could be perfect ambush spots for the paranoid soldiers' liking. Of course, it was made even worse when they got to the bottom and were met with a huge, antiquated metal door that belonged to the medieval era.

"Why the fuck did OZ build a dungeon under a mobile suit factory?" Duo muttered to no one in particular.

Anita glanced back at him with an amused smile. "They didn't, this was here long before they were." She laughed at Duo's bewildered look.

Jean-Claude opened the heavy metal door with ease; a glossy silk curtain shrouded the room from view. Once inside, the silk curtain was just one of several that lined the expansive stone chamber, giving the illusion of white and gold painted walls. Couches and armchairs smothered in pillows continued the color scheme, forming a rough semi-circle around a gold gilded, glass covered table that sat low to the ground. At the open end of the circle was a massive white marble fireplace infused with glittering gold veins, but what really caught the eye was the painting mounted above the hearth. It was beautiful and startling life-like with Anita on a giant bed of golden pillows surrounded by Jean-Claude and the other men who had come in with her, along with a couple of men whom the pilots didn't recognize.

After a few words with Anita, Nathaniel walked off to a door concealed on the other side of the room, taking Zander and the supposed murder victims with him. Jean-Claude and the honey-haired man sat on the far couch, with space enough between for Anita to sit after she spoke with Nathaniel. The other two men sat in armchairs on either end of the couch.

Heero, Duo, and Wufei took the other couch while Trowa and Quatre curled up on a love seat to the left of them, closest to the impressive fireplace.

"Are those the only two entrances to the room or are there others hidden behind all this cloth?" Heero asked, clearly uneasy about not being able to properly scope out everything.

"Yes, they're the only ones," Anita replied with a knowing look. "And you don't have to watch your back. No one is going to sneak up on you."

Ever the diplomat, Quatre attempted to make up for Heero's abruptness. "I'm sorry, old habits die hard and it's our soldier instinct that rears its ugly head when we're thrown in new situations like this," he smiled his brilliant, megawatt smile that he knew charmed everyone he directed it at. "We've been incredibly rude and haven't even properly introduced ourselves."

"We know who you are, at least by name and reputation," Anita replied. "I just didn't expect you all to be so..."

"Young?" Duo snorted. "Yeah, we get that a lot."

"None of you have ever been young," the red haired man said thoughtfully, as if he were reading into their very souls with just his intense emerald gaze. It sounded like he spoke from battle-hardened experience, earning him a few judging glances from the pilots.

"No," Quatre shook his head. "No, we haven't."

"Such pain and despair. It makes my heart bleed," the angelic blonde said softly, his voice doing the same trick Jean-Claude's did, except it rained down sadness like cool tears instead of provoking sensuality.

It seemed an almost unconscious response as Jean-Claude laid a lace covered hand on the other man's arm in a comforting gesture. "I am afraid we have also been rude. You already have come to know myself and _ma petite_, however, we have been woefully forgetful of the others," he said, looking at each man as he introduced them. "Our so eloquent Asher, _ma petite's_ Damien, and dear Richard."

"Right. So now that all the niceties have been observed, just what the hell is going on here?" Wufei demanded, ignoring Quatre's frown.

Anita gave him a hard stare. "We were actually out looking for those two," she indicated Quatre and Trowa. "If we had known two of you were here in our own city, then we would have approached you instead. Your government agency hides you guys pretty damn well, so it was much easier locating his summer home in the Mediterranean."

Now Quatre had dropped all pretenses and was openly cautious. "What do you need people like us for?"

"We want to be legal citizens again, and who better to champion our cause than the very people who are symbols of freedom to this society?" Jean-Claude replied smoothly.

"But everyone _is_ a legal citizen, now that peace and a truly united Earth Sphere exists," Quatre said, confused.

"_Non_, _ma petit ange_, _non_," he laughed, a rich, thick sound that coated the air like chocolate. "We have not existed in the world for a very long time, though now we wish to return to the world in your era of peace."

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Already your mind has rationalized and dismissed everything that just occurred upstairs," Asher remarked, his expression unreadable.

"Everyone does in the beginning," Richard added, sighing.

"None of you are completely human."

The other pilots stared at Duo as he spoke carefully, watching the reactions of the people across from them. Jean-Claude, Asher, and Damien had gone very still, so still that Duo thought they would vanish if he blinked. Anita and Richard shared glances.

"It depends on your definition of completely human," Anita answered.

"You said you would tell us everything," Harry said flatly.

"You do not ask the right questions," Jean-Claude smiled.

"Fine, so what are you then?" Wufei scoffed, extremely irritated. They were _thisclose_ to being on his shit list.

"I am a vampire, as is Damien and Asher. And occasionally, so is _ma petite_."

If Wufei thought he was joking, he tactfully didn't let it show. "Occasionally?"

"I'm more of a walking, talking metaphysical impossibility," Anita replied with a noncommittal shrug. "Necromancer, succubus, lycanthrope, pick a flavor."

"So Nathaniel would be a lycanthrope?" Trowa asked, for the first time showing his interest. "Are leopards the only ones?"

"No, there are several different types," Richard folded his muscular arms across his broad chest. "I'm a werewolf. There are leopards, wolves, lions, tigers, bears, swans, serpents, hyenas, rats... most all animal species really."

"That doesn't include some of the other creatures that haven't become extinct. Merpeople, the Naga, we manage to keep our lamia safe, the fey, demons-"

"Wait. Vampires and werewolves are one thing, but you expect us to believe faeries and things out of Greek and Hindu legends are living among us?" Wufei asked incredulously.

Jean-Claude gave him an infuriating shrug that meant everything and nothing. "Most legends and faerie tales are based on something real. Is it so hard to believe? Or must we show you the proof just as we sit here before you?"

"Yes," Heero frowned. "None of this makes logical sense."

"And when your friend here, monsieur Duo, changes at the full moon, will you still refuse to believe?" Jean-Claude inquired delicately. "I assure you what happened to Nathaniel and _ma petite's_ Zander was no theatrical act. You will still find them in their cat forms and quite real if you went to them now."

Again the pilots felt like their very souls had been laid bare for anyone to read. Or at least Heero and Wufei felt that way, because they were the only ones who were struggling to wrap their logical minds around the situation.

"You know I speak the truth, do you not,_ ma petit ange_?" Jean-Claude turned his heavy sapphire gaze to Quatre. "Your heart feels for others."

"You're right. I agree with Duo, I had a suspicion back at the apartment," Quatre sighed. "Remember when you thought Duo's eyes had changed color, Wufei? I felt it then, for a moment, and then later when he purred at you."

Wufei looked at him warily. "What do you mean? What did you feel?"

"Something not human. Somehow, it was still Duo, but not human. Just as all the people we've met since entering this building are not human," Quatre said with a hand over his chest.

Wufei glanced at Heero, who nodded. "All right, so we have vampires, wereanimals, and mythical creatures."

"Just like that, you let it go?" Richard asked, clearly dubious. His expression was full of a past discontentment.

"Yes, Quatre's feelings have never led us wrong before, so if he says you're telling the truth, then we'll believe you," Heero replied shortly.

The pain on Richard's face deepened like emotional scars taking physical shape. "Wufei, right? You agree just as blindly to the empath's word?" he questioned, though his gaze was all for Duo.

"I do."

"So what will you do when you finally witness it, not with Nathaniel, but when your own lover loses it in front of you and shifts?" Richard pressed. "I don't know how many of my wolves, or Anita's cats, have been heartbroken when their partners refuse to be with monsters."

The anger was instant, among all the pilots.

"I would never do that, nor would the rest of us," Wufei said darkly. This guy was definitely on his shit list.

Duo smiled grimly. "Before you guys showed up, _we_ were the monsters. Turning into a big black cat is an improvement over being the God of Death any day."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to piss you off," Richard apologized. "You just need to be prepared for some of the reactions you're going to get."

Duo shrugged. "Been there, done that. Got the scars to prove it. Trust me, buddy, no one's gonna hurt my feelings in any way they haven't been pummeled before."

"If people treated you all this way, how did you become legal citizens before?" Quatre asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Anita said dryly. "People may be scared shitless of the preternatural, but at the same time they are completely fascinated by the sex, mystery, and glamour appeal."

"So you traded in the big scary image for a 'come hither' approach," Duo replied, equally sarcastic. "Scaring them made them kill you, but if you made them want you, they'd be lined up to the watch the show."

"_Exactement_," Jean-Claude said, his voice pouring like warm, liquid pleasure over their skin.

"Okay, seriously, you've made your point. It anyone else as bothered by the sex-inducing voice trick as I am?"

"Are you so bothered, _mon chat_?" Jean-Claude asked amusedly, making Duo shake himself like a wet dog trying to get rid of the sensation.

"Yeah, that whole 'get me off with words' thing is really distracting," Duo said shortly. "Though I could see how a trick like that would be handy, especially when trying to win people over."

"Is this why you're opening a club in this part of the city?" Quatre inquired, picking his words carefully.

"That's putting it nicely," Nathaniel remarked, reemerging from the hidden doorway on the other side of the room. He dropped gracefully to the floor at Anita's feet, laying his head in her lap and stretching languorously so that the front of his furry, and entirely nude, body was displayed for all to see. He looked more comfortable furry and naked then he had earlier when still human and fully clothed. And he clearly enjoyed the heightened discomfort and attention he was getting from the pilots. "I was one of Jean-Claude's best strippers when he ran Guilty Pleasures. And Damien over there charmed the crowds at Danse Macabre, though I have to admit that he, Jean-Claude, and Asher have centuries of seducing experience over me."

"Centuries? None of you look old enough to be even thirty," Heero said, frowning again. 'Just how long have you been hiding from the public? Is that why I wasn't able to find any information on you?"

It was Anita's turn to smile grimly. "We've been underground for over two hundred years, though many of us are a lot older than that. When we were forced into hiding, we had several people in the government, or with the right connections, who were able to destroy all information on the preternatural community. Eventually, we were just forgotten."

"And there you were all pissed because you thought your god-like hacking skills had failed you," Duo joked, earning himself a glare.

"What made you go into seclusion?" Trowa asked, curious.

"A few crazy, high placed politicians had the bright idea to use vampires and lycanthropes as tools for war. Why waste human lives and money on weapons when you have people that can bench press a truck like it's nothing, heal themselves, and can fuck with the minds of the enemy?" Anita said, anger warming in her tone. "Or better yet, people like me that raised the dead for a living. A whole army of zombies. They're already dead, so it's not like they could be killed. It was a load of fucking bullshit, when they granted citizenship; everyone was given the basics of preternatural politics. There are strict rules, no matter what type of being you are, and to be used for war on others broke several of the strictest, most heavily punished laws."

"When we refused... Well, you can imagine the response we got," Nathaniel sighed, rubbing his cheek against Anita's thigh and she unconsciously began stroking the top of his head.

"Now that we do understand, all too well," Wufei muttered, the others nodding in agreement.

Duo watched Nathaniel and Anita, looking pensive. "I'm... we're going to have to learn these rules, if we're going to present your case to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation Council and..."

"... and because you're now one of us," Nathaniel finished for him, managing to convey his sympathy even with his kitty cat features.

"If we could fix it, we would," Anita added. "Zander shouldn't have taken things into his own hands, no matter what his excuse. All I can offer to make up for it is the fact that he will be suitably punished for stepping way the fuck out of line, and helping you through the transition so it'll be easier."

"Is it really so difficult?"  
"Almost all new lycanthropes don't remember their first few full moons because their beast takes over so completely," Richard answered, mirroring Nathaniel's sympathetic look. "Once you're able to retain more of yourself, you'll regain more control over what you do and be able to think consciously and remember. Though for the first year, even after you gain control, you have to be careful about being too emotional, or being in intense situations around the full moon."

"And being hungry," Asher said idly. "Especially if you are prone to, I believe you call it, 'cuddling'. Being so close to your lover's throat, the sight and scent of the thin flesh over the jugular vein seems very... tempting."

Duo went pale, staring from Asher to Wufei with distress. "I would never do something like that."

Asher's expression showed nothing. "You do not sound very certain."

"I wouldn't."

"I think you already almost have," Quatre said softly, comprehension dawning with a tough of horror. "Remember what we just talked about? What were you doing when Wufei thought your eyes changed colors?"

"I was nuzzling his neck," Duo bit his lower lip, looking anxious.

Wufei was silent, regarding Duo guardedly. After a moment, he gave a slight shrug as if he came to some sort of mental agreement with himself. "Maybe you should have."

"_What_?!"

"Not kill me and eat me, but like that Zander did. Contaminate me, or infect me, whatever the hell it is he did to you," Wufei clarified, his attitude resolute. "You shouldn't have to go through this alone."

"Are you serious?" Richard asked, genuinely shocked.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Wufei glared at him as if daring the much larger man to contradict his logic.

"No, it's just... extremely rare," Richard replied, still thrown for a loop.

"I think it is one of the most beautiful displays of selfless devotion I have ever seen," Damien remarked, breaking his long silence since his first soul baring observation. "Aside from all of Anita's overtures of course."

"Indeed," Jean-Claude agreed genially.

"You don't have to," Duo mumbled modestly.

"But I want to."

"There is a much less violent way to do it, right?" Quatre asked, worried.

"Oh yeah, normally we only take in the willing, those who have no families or homes, or those with natural psychic gifts like your empathy who end up finding us by sensing our powers," Anita answered. "Though some lycanthrope and vampire groups with weak leaders and dominants can lose control of the newly turned."

"Resulting in the appearance of the attacks we're investigating, right?"

"Unfortunately," she sighed. "We're able to save most lycanthrope victims, as Duo can verify with how fast his own injuries healed. It makes it easier to save their life if they're unable to bleed all over the place as much. The vampire victims aren't so lucky, because it's a lot more complicated when you're turning a person into a vamp."

"With your wars ended, it was much harder to hide the fact," Jean-Claude said. "Which was why we were trying to approach you, before the situation became ugly."

"Honestly, all we really need to do is convince Relena," Duo shrugged. "Even though the Earth Sphere has no true leader, everyone listens to her and she always gets her way with issues." Heero narrowed his eyes at Duo's flippant tone. "What? You know I'm right, Heero."

"We can all fly over to the Council headquarters and speak with her, we're going to need Duo for proof," Quatre paused. "And Wufei."

"It's going to have to wait," Wufei disagreed, looking over at the group of vampires and shapeshifters. "I understand why you asked for Duo to stay here now. We're both going to have to stay and receive your guidance."

"You're really serious about sacrificing your human life, aren't you?" Anita stated.

"We're together in everything, and this is certainly no exception," he replied firmly.

"All right, so we'll use this week to learn as much as possible of this... community. I'll arrange a flight over for a day or two after the full moon. We're going to need some of you to travel with us, you said yourself that the newly changed are unpredictable, so we're going to need your assistance in providing the proof," Quatre said calculatingly, plans solidifying in his cerulean eyes as clearly as the note of authority that threaded through his gentle voice. "I'll call first thing in the morning."

"It is already near morning," Asher said, glancing up towards the ceiling.

Duo pulled back the sleeve of his leather jacket. "Well, shit. It's four a.m. We've talked the night away and haven't even skimmed the surface of all this crap yet."

"We have plenty of rooms here, you can rest and then retrieve your belongings from your home later today," Jean-Claude offered, standing up. "When you return, we shall handle monsieur Wufei's dilemma and discuss our situation further."

"That would be very nice, thank you," Quatre replied.

They stood and followed everyone to the other door. A long hallway opened up behind the door, with several other doorways and a few other corridors branching off of it. It was like walking through an underground castle with all the stone and torches lighting the walkway.

"Our rooms are in this corridor," Anita said, motioning down the first off-shoot of hallway. "Most of the rooms on this main path are occupied with some of my pard and pride, along with Richard's pack. The next hall if where all the guest rooms are."

A chunk of their group broke off to go to their rooms, leaving only Anita and Jean-Claude with the pilots. They stopped when they reached the corridor for the guest rooms.

'What's down the other two hallways?" Duo asked.

"To the left will be the coffin room, our medical area, and the feeding area. The other way leads to cells and a back exit."

Duo raised an eyebrow, giving Jean-Claude an odd look. "Well, I guess that answers my question," he remarked dryly, shaking his head. "Coffin room. _Coffin room_... weird."

"Oh, trust me, you haven't seen weird yet," Anita laughed.

"All of these rooms are empty for the moments, so please feel free to pick whichever room suits your taste," Jean-Claude said, giving them a small, flourishing bow. "If you need anything, let us know." They left before anyone had the chance to ask how they would communicate with them.

"Free dinner to whoever has the balls to knock on _their_ bedroom door," Duo cracked.

"No, thanks. I'm afraid of what we might walk in on," Trowa said amusedly, taking Quatre by the hand and starting down the hall. They ended up picking the first room they saw, it had a huge king-sized, four poster bed and another one of the faux fireplaces with a comfy looking leather couch in front of it. Everything was done in shades of turquoise and cream, even the carpet thick enough to sleep on was the blue gemstone color. Heero went across the hall to a similar bedroom in all black and white. Duo and Wufei decided on the one next door to Heero, almost melodramatically black with violent splashes of bright, crimson red.

Duo immediately kicked off his shoes at the foot of the massive bed, taking off his jacket and shirt and tossing them over onto the couch. He flopped onto the bed, wriggling a little on the silk sheets. "Come on, 'Fei, it's comfy as hell."

Duo undid his belt, taking his gun out of its holster before throwing it down to join his shoes on the floor and putting the gun under his pillow. Wufei followed suit, putting his clothes with Duo's, except he draped his gun holster on the top of the headboard with the gun facing in front for a quick draw. He also had ankle sheathes slid down snugly in his boots, so he pulled the long knives out and tucked them between the mattress and the bed frame for easy access as well.

It was nothing against their hosts, they had a set up similar in their own bedroom at their apartment out of pure, deeply ingrained habit.

"You never know how tired you are until you're comfy in bed and thinking about it," Duo said, letting out a yawn as he snuggled up to Wufei. He made painfully sure his face was turned completely away from his throat, to keep a repeat performance from occurring, but still managed to fall asleep almost instantly.

* * *

And next time... Duo can't keep his mouth shut, like always, causing him and Wufei to get a taste of the _ardeur_. Hehe.

Let the bed swapping begin.

Reviews are lovely. :)


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